


Sleep Apnea

by hexagonalslugs



Series: Circadian Rhythm [5]
Category: Assassin's Creed
Genre: Angels - Freeform, Character Death, Gore, M/M, Underage - Freeform, Violence, discontinued
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-07-14
Updated: 2015-01-20
Packaged: 2018-02-08 14:36:08
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death, Underage
Chapters: 4
Words: 8,526
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1944858
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/hexagonalslugs/pseuds/hexagonalslugs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>After what the proeathans did it's no surprise Desmond was pissed as hell and brought back an angel the proeathans all would just rather forgot existed.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Prologue

Sawsan was barely five when they killed her. Desmond hadn’t even had time to offer himself in her place, like he had promised Adha he would do. More than anything, he had wanted her daughter to live, she didn’t have to hurt for his overstep. The counsel’s small militia swept in without notice, incapacitating Desmond with a song that dropped him to his knees. Sawsan made a startled noise, and looked for a moment like she was going to ask what was wrong when Desmond grabbed her before his body stopped responding.

 

Mars had been arrested about a week before, though they weren’t calling it an arrest, but an investigation. Either way, she hadn’t been home. Diyari was with Altair at the academy, and Desmond seemed like the only one with nothing to do, so he often babysat Sawsan while Adha was busy with errands for Ogun. Desmond couldn’t move with the song in his bones, but his heart pounded with anger and unease that tripled when the armed proeathans showed up. There were two of them, one with an emitter at his hip, and the other with what could only be described as a tazer. He recognized the sound of the artifacts before he saw them.

 

Desmond couldn’t even snarl at them, much less speak. Nor did they give him the chance to speak. His body stood with Sawsan in his arms, and they moved against his will, holding her out to them. She wasn’t as squirmy, trapped in the same song Desmond was, but he knew she was afraid.

 

The proeathan that took her from him didn’t even give him the courtesy of turning away, just pressed the artifact snugly against the back of her neck. It looked like it might have been painless, as her body went limp in his arms within the minute, but Desmond knew it felt like getting torn in half for the short while it lasted.

 

Desmond’s eyes focused sharply, and his arms fell heavily to his sides. Once he’d snapped, the song meant nothing. Sawsan was important. Sawsan was his offspring, she carried his blood, was his lineage, and they’d just snuffed her out. Desmond couldn’t even remember why. The fury blinded him, and all he acted on was instinct, lashing out at the proeathans with the violence they had intended for the battlefield.

 

He tore through their light armor as if it was more like paper, and less like the artifact metal it was. The numbing song was still in his head and in his bones, but he fought it as vehemently as he fought them. The sound of it reverberating in his skull was cut short when Desmond flung the artifact emitter from the proeathan’s hip. It crashed into the wall before hitting the floor, and after that, there was nothing to slow Desmond down.

 

When he finally stopped, something told him he wasn’t supposed to make such a mess. Well, he wasn’t really supposed to attack a proeathan either…. and he’d just killed two of them. Killing was an understatement. There were bite sized chunks missing from their arms, bleeding furrows through skin exposed from ripping apart the armor, and one had a messy hole in his gut where Desmond had simply forced his hand into the abdominal cavity.

 

Sawsan was cradled in his arms, and he’d rocked her a bit, perhaps hoping the light would come back into her glassy eyes. Desmond warbled softly, cooing at her until he was distracted by the beeping of a communicator. He had no idea what to do with it, or with the proeathan’s body it was attached to.

 

When Adha returned to Mars’ empty house she knew something was off _instantly_. There was a smell in the air that set her feathers on edge. She knocked, but no one answered. She knocked again, but still no one answered. Finally she just opened the door and peered inside.

 

She wasn’t expecting the gore. She leaned back out the door and dry heaved and coughed a bit. She didn’t mind blood, but just the absolute violence of the scene unsettled made her heave. But at least she didn’t throw up. Trembling slightly she pushed the door open to get a better look at the scene and realized that there was an angel in the middle of it. Adha recognized him, of course it was Desmond, and he was rocking back and forth, making a soft, horrible sounding keening.

 

Adha went over to him, hopping a bit to avoid the guts scattered across the floor. Then she looked down at Desmond and all the blood rushed out of her face. She didn’t say anything, but she did scream, high enough to make glass rattle. She shoved Desmond back and grabbed the child out of his arms before her legs gave out. Sawsan was cold and stiff in her arms, parts of her limbs already dark and swollen from dead blood collecting at the extremities. She didn’t even cry, just stared in horror at what had become of her child.

 

Slowly Adha looked up at Desmond. “What did you do?” she whispered. Desmond didn’t answer after a second. “WHAT DID YOU DO!” she ended up screaming at him and struck him hard with both of her wings across the shoulders and head.

 

Desmond flinched, jerking away from her wings. He said something, but it mostly just sounded ancient in his mouth. More than anything, he just looked confused. He grabbed one of Adha’s wings before she could strike him with it again, taking in her appearance, the sheer tunic on her shoulders.

 

He let her go in favor of holding his head until he could hear his own thoughts again. It took him a few tries to even speak properly, but getting full thoughts out was another story. “Killed her,” Desmond said, “They came… and killed her.” He’d just reacted after that.

 

Listening to Desmond say it, say that the proeathans had come and killed their baby finally opened the flood gates. Adha sobbed, nearly a scream, in her grief and hunched over her dead child. Her tears stained the soft cloth of her tunic, creating a huge wet spot that on the red fabric looked like blood. How horribly fitting.

 

Desmond watched her for a few moments, then crouched by her, wings opening slowly to arch over her. He made a quiet cooing sound, which came out strained. It felt like he’d been kicked in the head by a horse, and then in the gut. And then a train, when the concept of the society came back to him. It felt weird, and it hurt, and he knew he was going to be culled for this.

 

“You have to go.” Desmond said, pushing her with his wings. “Now. You have to go, now.”

 

Adha nearly fell over when Desmond pushed her, still crying, sobbing and she couldn’t move. She could barely breathe let alone stand up or fly. When Desmond urged her more she just ended up collapsing, drawing her wings over her body and curling around her daughter’s lifeless form.

 

Desmond pulled her up, hands still bloody, but at least mostly dry. “Adha.” He shook her by the shoulders just a little. The communicator kept beeping, and he shook her more insistently. “ _Know this one._ ”

 

Adha shoved him, “No,” she shrieked, “ _No no no no no,_ ” and she leaned back over her daughter and pressed her face into the little girl’s small chest. “ _You did. You did. Promised Brightwings. PROMISED_ ,” she sobbed into Sawsan’s tunic further, though she had no more tears left. “Let her die,” she croaked miserably.

 

He growled at her, offended that she even considered, much less thought it was his fault. He had been absolutely powerless. Desmond’s wings flared, and he told her to go, voice a low growl. It wasn’t that he was unaware that he’d broken his promise. He’d been unable to keep it. Either way, it still pissed him off.

 

The whirlwind of emotions he was feeling was clear in his feathers and posture, but above all, he needed Adha to leave. Before the beeping in the communicator brought more proeathans.

 

Adha looked up at Desmond, but she wasn’t seeing him, she was seeing his shape and his bearing. Some angels had a much deeper connection to their times as avians, she and Desmond were two of them. Deep down there were still ‘feral’ and all her old instincts kicked in.

 

Big male, who wanted her out of his territory. She shrunk away, and reluctantly knew she had to leave Sawsan behind. She didn’t want to but the angry positions of Desmond’s wings said he’d chase her out if he had to. Some more civilized part of her brain knew he wouldn’t, but the feral side of her was more at the forefront right now. Before she would have just left any child, knowing there was nothing she could do.

 

Desmond loomed above her and she bolted, leaving Sawsan behind. There was no way she could carry the child in flight. She made it out the closer back door, not even checking to see if Desmond was following and was airborne in seconds. She flew for ten minutes before looking back and saw Desmond wasn’t following.

 

He had other things to worry about, but his daughter’s body came first. Desmond was still half in and out of the now in a way that felt like drowning. He’d surface and realize he’d acted out, then sink back down and simply react. Either way, he couldn’t focus on more than one thing at a time without feeling panicky.  Desmond’s hands were shaking too much to light the fireplace, and when he heard activity outside, shut himself deeper in Mars’ home.

 

Desmond was loathe to leave Sawsan there, at some moments more than others, but in the end, he was too angry with the proeathans to let them just kill him. For the first time in his memory, he hated their keepers.

 

They shared his sentiments to a fault, but at this point, Desmond was just an angel misbehaving, and the only action to control him was culling.

  
It wasn’t appallingly easy to take down an enraged angel, however, they were much more cautious. The public release to the rest of proeathan society stated five casualties. Two angels, three proeathans. The only clear information from the whole ordeal was simply that Desmond would not be cycling any time soon for his offense.


	2. Double Trouble

_How_  had Yusuf talked him into this being a good idea? Rauf was much,  _much_ , too old for this. He was just a giant push over was how, and he loved Yusuf more than anything. That was the 'horrible' thing about having a life mate; you tended to love them no matter what even when they were bad for your health. Or bad for their own health honestly. Rauf had been a constant knot of worry once Yusuf had convinced his Keeper to put him on hormones, though Rauf had a feeling that was more Yusuf making a case to  _Rauf's_  Keeper to talk to Yusuf's.

Didn't really matter how the hormones happened. But they did. Yusuf switched. Sort of. Nearly four cycles of being strictly a soldier did horrible things to the chemical balances of the body. Usually switches were let to level out for a cycle before being turned into breeders or soldiers. Yusuf though had been  _insistent_.

Rauf still thought about it sometimes, took them  _years_  for Yusuf to finally switch and everything seemed to be going so well. They'd even had a baby on the way but they'd moved too fast. It had been especially hard on Yusuf when the fledgeling was stillborn. More hormones followed, mainly to try and stabilize the hormones and chemicals raging in his life mate. Switching wasn't easy, especially not for soldiers and then coupled with pregnancy hormones. Rauf was just happy he hadn't done something foolish like killed himself. The months that had followed were stressful on both of them.

That was behind them though, and Rauf  _still_  wasn't getting any fucking younger and somehow they'd had two hellspawn of children. Rauf got headaches thinking about it. Twins for starters.  _Twins_. Like his life wasn't stressful enough working with Rashid to maintain the academy and it didn't help that Rashid was between cycles right now, unborn but would be so quickly. Three years and they were still little fucking monsters.

Not that he was  _particularly_  surprised by who they were. Desmond, who got into trouble constantly and the Council had been  _furious_  had cycled through again already when they found out. Thankfully Rauf's Keeper liked and respected him and knew how much trouble the two of them had gone through to have these kids in the first place. But Desmond… Desmond wasn't the problem. Sure the Council was mad about Desmond, he  _had_  taken bites out of proeathans, and when they'd finally killed him last cycle had had bits of proeathan flesh in his stomach. No, the problem was Desmond's brother: Cain.

Cain hadn't been in a cycle since they'd been avian, and even then almost exclusively human. When he popped up he was immediately culled. Not that Rauf particularly blamed the Council for this. Rauf could remember Cain distantly, in a far, far, back memory he had. Cain had been a problem before they slept, before the angels became avians. He couldn't remember exactly _what_  the problem had been, but he knew it was bad. Until recently they'd lied about Cain's name to everyone. If they didn't he'd be culled, just like always.

But now the Council knew and it had come to the point that armed proeathans had shown up at the academy. Thankfully it hadn't come to violence. Rauf's Keeper was after all, his Keeper, and while angels lived in the academy they were under Rauf's purview, and thus his Keeper's. The Council had backed down when reminded of this fact, that while Rauf lived, his Keeper had authority over all the angels who were soldiers or guards.

What a headache.

Thinking of headaches Rauf's brows went up and he looked up when he heard the door open, but saw no one. He waited, nothing happened, but he just waited some more. He smiled helplessly when two little heads popped up over the top of his desk. "What are you two doing here?" he asked his sons, who weren't more than three and being three, and themselves  _constant_  trouble makers.

"Maaama," was all Desmond said about it, as if he expected Rauf to extrapolate the entire meaning of 'Mama fell asleep' from just that. He pulled himself up onto the desk, claws digging into the surface.

Cain being there wasn't the only thing that was strange, the both of them  _looked_  strange. It wasn't as if it was wrong, or really all that far off from any other fledgeling, but the twins did share a few marked differences from others their age. They both had tails, which were mostly just a useless fan of fluffy feathers that covered their tiny asses, and aside from the fact that they were twins, the biggest thing was an extra set of claws. They had claws in their wings, acting more like the remains of thumbs at the wrists of the limbs, which was probably the most prehistoric of their anomalies. Finding out about those had been fun. Not for Rauf, who they had been climbing all over, but for the boys, it was  _fantastic_.

Still, not even avians had twins. There was something about two souls at once that just didn't really happen - at least, not safely.

Desmond blinked up at Rauf with wide, gold eyes. He didn't give a royal fuck whether or not Rauf was busy, or what was on his desk. All that mattered was Desmond was on the desk, and that meant he was more important. Well, Cain too.

"Desmond, son no," and Rauf quickly plucked Desmond off the desk because he'd rather Desmond crawl all over him and his big wings than shred his papers. "Ahg you two are useless," he said as Cain had crawled up to join his cycle brother. Unlike Desmond Cain didn't talk. As in he didn't talk ever, not mama or daddy or no or yes or anything. Rauf hoped Cain hadn't forgotten  _how_  to talk since it'd been so long between his last real cycle.

Cain just quietly hopped across Rauf's desk and right into his lap and Rauf winced when his little wing claws snagged on some of his skin. They weren't too bad, not sharp like some of the soldier's claws were. The claws were still soft enough that they just felt like human nails. They still could hurt a bit, but they never left a lasting mark.

"What are you two doing away from your mother?" Rauf asked, keeping Desmond decidedly off the desk since the boy still wanted to crawl all over it. Setting Desmond a course to clamber all over his wings distracted him. "Huh?" he asked Desmond as the boy climbed up onto his shoulder and tugged on his son's fluffy wing, though Cain, thankfully, didn't join him. "Daddy's busy with work. Where's mama?" he asked.

Desmond said something unintelligible to Cain, hanging onto Rauf's wing with all six limbs. "Nap time."

He managed to get himself draped over Rauf's shoulder, "We're not tiiiiiiiired." But Yusuf had passed out. Like  _passed out_. In all manners of the word. The twins, on the other hand, were bundles of cursed energy from the depths of hell.

Rauf knew better than to sigh. Sighing meant he was tired and didn't want to deal with it and that would just make them be more annoying. Which wasn't exactly  _them_ , more that they were just… well… three. Rauf was too old to have children this young.

With a grunt Rauf got up, taking Cain along with him and one of his wings up to cover Desmond so he didn't fall despite the pain it brought him. Cain squeaked and squirmed a bit. "All right," he said, "lets go find something to do then," and he took them out of his office. He knew at this time some of the younger angels were training, relearning muscle memory, but Cain and Desmond were too young for that still. He could order someone to play tag with his sons, since he couldn't go running around and chasing them like Yusuf still could.

He actually had the perfect candidate for that. He headed for one of the classrooms, which was more just for reading than anything. Angels didn't need to really learn anything except new thing, they just had to be reminded. Reading triggered their memories to remember what they'd forgotten. So 'classrooms' were just chairs comfortable for angels to sit in, and read, with an instructor in there to help them if the relearning was difficult.

Rauf found the one he wanted for preteens. He set his sons down, even Desmond who complained, and said, "Be quiet for just one minute. Then we can play," he promised, and Rauf always kept the promise of play. He walked into the classroom and asked the instructor where Diyari was. Weird it might be to ask Desmond's son from his last cycle to be his playmate, but it would just mean Desmond would be more likely to do what Diyari said. And when Desmond did something, Cain did something. Cain didn't have  _much_  of a personality yet, again probably from not being born for so long. So it was just like having two Desmonds around. And that… that was no cake walk.

Desmond and Cain ran Diyari absolutely ragged. At least he'd go home tired and sleep, rather than bother Altair with Jari this and Jari that. The twins, likewise, were more or less beat. Desmond was more than content to curl up with his brother. Yusuf actually had to come fetch them, because they'd fallen asleep propped up next to Diyari in the classroom. The only evidence had been Desmond finally giving up on claiming he wasn't tired.

Yusuf picked them both up, almost amazed that neither of them so much as stirred aside from clinging to him. He really couldn't thank Diyari enough, though the kid honestly looked like he was done to the umpteenth power with the twins. He somehow just managed to deal with them. Rauf came by, and Yusuf handed Cain off to him.

"For the record," Rauf said, as they arrived back home, "kids were a horrible idea," and that at least made Yusuf chuckle as Rauf laid Cain down next to Desmond. Desmond went immediately from cuddling the pillow, to cuddling his brother.


	3. Twin Talk

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> hexagonalslugs is doing Q&A over on his blog [del-sin](del-sin.tumblr.com) and will probably be answering the bulk of any questions you might wanna ask here c:

When the Council had found out that Desmond’s twin was none other than Cain, Yusuf, Rauf, and their keepers, may have thought there would be hell to pay. There would have been, if the twins weren’t already sixteen, clearly self aware, and deep in their training. Neither of them left the academy grounds, nor were either of them far from each other.

 

Yusuf was the only one who could tell them apart at little more than a glance. Rauf ended up just calling them both ‘boy’ (before he’d ended up just cycling because he really was damn old for an angel), but their near identical appearance laid the groundwork for an innumerable array of pranks. Not that they always got away with it, considering the limited amount of people they had to work with. It got easier to tell them apart when they molted the first time. Desmond still retained some of his golden feathers, while Cain barely had any.

 

Desmond thought it had been unfair that Rauf had cycled through so quickly, though it was mostly because Yusuf stopped spending time with Cain and him, and instead spent it all babying literal baby Rauf. Usually, angels weren’t still considered young when one of their parents cycled, and it was a little out of the ordinary for Desmond and Cain to still be around while Rauf was more or less a toddler. A toddler with an uncanny vocabulary and extensive memory. He still conducted some business with Rashid for fuck’s sake. He just didn’t do any of the paperwork.

 

At least Yusuf took care of Rauf and his fledgeling-molty needs, because he and Cain were too too busy getting into trouble, or beating each other up under the guise of ‘training.’ That and sneaking off the compound for food. They didn’t have sweet fruit pastries at the academy, and neither of them cared that it wasn’t made for their digestive systems, but for humans, because the things were damn good and worth it.

 

When they weren’t MIA or goofing off, they were hanging out with Diyari. Desmond still hadn’t admitted to remembering he mothered him, and kind of delighted just a little bit in the awkwardness because of it. And he _knew_ no one had told Altair, which must have been hell for poor Diyari.

 

“Whatcha readin’?” Desmond asked, plunking himself down on the stool across from Diyari at the table. Diyari was… he had no idea, maybe twenty, Desmond wasn’t sure. He was still curious about how Diyari was doing, even though he’d been removed pretty early on, all things considered. Maybe he _should_ just tell Diyari he remembered… even though it wasn’t stressful now. He was worried it might make it stressful.

 

Cain didn’t bother with things like asking, he never really had. Once he’d started to develop a personality beyond his brother he just went full dick head. His memories were so fuzzy and he really did have to learn everything new again, unlike Desmond who was reading and talking by two like most angels Cain hadn’t mastered reading till most humans did. He knew he was behind in a lot of things. But he did have some memories that developed into his personality and frankly; he was a dick head. Which was why he didn’t ask what Diyari was reading, he just plucked the book out of Diyari’s hands.

 

“Nerd stuff,” Cain said, scanning the medical tome, standing to Diyari’s side ignoring Diyari’s scowl.

 

“Says the idiot who couldn’t read until he was ten,” Desmond shot back.

 

Diyari learned not to be surprised when Desmond more or less defended him. Instead, he just hit Cain upside the head with his wing in order to get his book back. Point Desmond for not being within range. “You could do something useful yourself, you know.” Realistically speaking, the both of them could. They mostly just sleazed around and did what they wanted because they were still kind of the head instructor’s sons, even if the instructor was younger than they were.

 

 

Valiantly, Desmond tried not to snort. A snicker still snuck past his lips. Though he could say no better. He really only just seemed to be a better fighter, but was guilty of the same laziness and general disobedience as his twin.

 

“I was six,” Cain said and reached across the table with one wing to bat Desmond upside the head with them, since his wings were longer than Diyari’s and could reach. “And we’re bored D,” since he was standing he could lean against Diyari and the doctor only gave him an annoyed look for his troubles. Diyari had been Rauf’s go-to playmate whenever they were bored or had exhausted Yusuf and he needed to get the twins out of his hair. So they were just used to Diyari playing with them. Plus he never freaked out when they ended up hurting themselves like other angels did.

 

Desmond hit Cain back, upsetting Diyari’s book, and by then, he was kind of finished with trying to get anything done. Once the twins showed up, it was a ‘put down everything and deal with it’ situation. Of course they were bored. They were always fucking bored.

 

“What do you want to do, then?” Diyari asked before the two of them started going at it in the room. They left enough feathers outside, and there was literally no need for them to make a mess in here too.

 

Cain gave Desmond a sly look and then grinned at Diyari. “We’re hungry,” and like being bored the twins were _always_ hungry. They also weren’t allowed outside of the academy, those were just the rules, but the rules never seemed to apply to the twins. They wanted food, proeathan food. Meaning they needed an adult, since fledglings could leave the academy with an adult to accompany them.

 

Desmond was mirroring Cain’s sharp toothed smile, “I want sweet bread,” he said, already deciding that Diyari was going to help them sneak out of the academy. It was true that other fledglings could leave with an older angel, but Desmond and Cain were technically supposed to stay on the grounds, because it was the only place they were more or less protected from the Council. 

 

Diyari let out a hard breath through his nose. “Fine.” He’d be lying if he said he didn’t like breaking the rules every once in a while, and even though the twins had been caught a few times, Diyari hadn’t been reprimanded once despite his enabler status, so he had nothing to lose. Maybe even get the treat of watching their young father chew them out, then have them run training circuits until they collapsed (and then he’d have to make sure they weren’t seriously injured).

 

“You know the drill,” he said, standing up and herding them out with his wings. He’d meet them on the other side of the wall behind the mess hall. It was the only part of the perimeter that wasn’t really watched, and was pretty close to where a bunch of vendors and shops were. Diyari, on the other hand, would just walk out like he usually did.

 

Desmond’s wings shuffled in his excitement, and his smile widened, “Yesss! Good food!”

 

“Des you’re going to tell the entire academy,” and Cain whapped his brother with his wing. “C’mon,” he added as Diyari left, strolling out nonchalantly. Cain grabbed Desmond by the wrist and strong armed him right into the air. They landed lightly on the academy roof, where security was minimal. Their parents still hadn’t figured out _how_ they got out since there was a very specific song that played all across the academy that kept young angels from wandering.

 

The problem was though was that Cain didn’t listen to songs. They didn’t affect him, he honestly didn’t even hear them. He couldn’t really do much with that, but he could at least block it for his brother. He squeezed his eyes shut and then after a few seconds opened one eye to look at Desmond. Sometimes it worked the first try, sometimes it didn’t. He couldn’t hear it so he didn’t know if it worked. “Still hear it?” he asked.

 

The song honestly just sounded like static. It was white noise. Desmond thought about leaving, and the white noise just got annoying, made him restless. It didn’t stop him from leaving, it wasn’t like a brick wall like he’d known some songs could do to him in the past, it just made him have to think about what he was doing. The older he got, the less he had to try, but it didn’t stop him from hearing them. Cain just made it easier to ignore.

“You’re just deaf.” He pulled Cain out, because once he left the frequency, it wasn’t annoying.

 

There were always songs playing. Most of them were just like the sound of their own breath, and went unnoticed. Now everything was just noisy, when he could be listening to so many other things.   
  
“Or stupid. Maybe both.” Desmond took his chance to hit Cain back before flat out sprinting away to meet up with Diyari.

 

“I’m not either!” Cain cried and ran after Desmond, his wings flaring open. One day he was going to tackle his brother right out of the fucking sky. Till then he just flew after Desmond and they went over the wall, down the block and entered normal street traffic. Angels alone in the streets weren’t an everyday sight, but around the academy they weren’t uncommon either.

 

“Food,” he said once he’d landed with Desmond, half running into him and jostling their feathers around.

 

Desmond grinned at Diyari, leaning hard into Cain to push him back. He folded his wings, but held them aloft enough that he could walk flat on his feet. “C’mon, get us something good!”

 

Proeathans weren’t the only ones in the streets of Atlantis. There were humans too. They were the lower working class who worked jobs proeathans didn’t want, or hired themselves out to be servants. Those that did wore a band around their necks like a collar, which gave them more freedom to go where they needed to go as they were speaking for their employers. Cain saw plenty of them. “Mmm, we should have one of them,” Cain said to Desmond lowly, eyeing a human who was carrying the bags of a proeathan as they went shopping.

 

“Can we get a whole one? I mean, can Diyari…” They didn’t even eat human meat in the academy, but there were places that sold livestock, or at least human meat. “And Yusuf will throw a fit if we make a mess.” His stomach growled loudly, “Still, it’s Diyari’s money.” But now he couldn’t stop thinking about fresh meat. People weren’t cheap. Of course, livestock wasn’t exactly like those walking the streets, servants were just much more capable.

 

“I thought you two wanted sweets,” Diyari said, giving them both a look. Maybe this was why angels didn’t have twins. They were ridiculous!

 

“Sweets,” Cain agreed, “and meat,” he grinned at Diyari who just gave them both an unamused look. Cain’s wings hunched a little. Sometimes Diyari could be fun, other other times he could be a bit of a hard ass.

 

Diyari was honestly wont to let Desmond talk Cain out of an entire human. “Something cooked, and if there’s enough left, you can get sweets.” The easiest thing to do was just hand each of them a limited credit counter, and let them figure out what their limit was. It was never enough to buy whole human, but sometimes it wasn’t enough to afford a drink with a sandwich. Watching them find that out was amusing enough. 

 

He held up the two discs of burnished metal, glowing with a soft circuit pattern. “Or, you both eat where I’m eating, and there’s frozen fruit, ice cream, and chocolate.”

 

Desmond’s tail feathers flicked and spread out behind him, and Diyari knew he already had one twin on board. Desmond glanced at Cain, golden eyes narrowing a bit. If Cain didn’t say yes to that, he’d literally punch him back into the academy.

 

Cain’s face pinched. He wanted meat. Like meat meat but he knew how much Desmond loved sweats. Especially chocolate. “Fine,” he sighed even as he looked across the street at some humans cleaning the windows of a restaurant. He wanted them, and not just sweets. “I’m hungry,” he complained.

 

Desmond’s grin was unfairly wide. He gave Cain another look, “You’re so _nice_ to me, baby brother.” It really only meant they’d be breaking more rules in the dark. “We’ll find something.”

 

He turned and  sauntered after Diyari. The restaurant was more of a cafe-like atmosphere, with some tall tables and shorter tables. Desmond plunked himself down at the high table’s stools, finally able to fold his wings comfortably.

 

Cain was sullen as he slinked after his brother and their nanny. As he entered the cafe his head turned, and he felt a weird pull on the back of his neck. He didn’t know what that was. It was weird. He shook himself a little, his feathers fluffing up a bit before lying still, and sat next to Desmond. There were menus for them already and he picked one up, looking at it, but kept touching the back of his neck.

 

“You feel somethin’?” he asked Desmond after the sixth time he’d touched it.

 

Desmond shuffled his wings, then hissed at him, “ _That’s what a keeper feels like_ , numbnuts.” He felt it more like something crawling up his spine, but it was duller, less important. _His_ keeper wasn’t dead, he just couldn’t get to her. He could feel that she was there, somewhere, but couldn’t see her.

 

He pushed Cain’s face away from the menu, and that was just about when their proeathan waiter showed up.

 

Cain stared at them. “Hello,” they said, they were clearly nervous about serving the three of them. Either he was new, or this was the first time he’d seen angels up close. They were all shirtless and ripped and huge so Cain could imagine that could be intimidating. He looked at Desmond and Cain, then away, like he’d been told not to look. But Cain wanted him to look. This wasn’t the first time they’d been to this cafe, why hadn’t he ever seen this proeathan before? They looked at Diyari. They’d probably told him Diyari did most of the ordering, he was the one who paid after all. “What can I get you?”

 

Diyari offered him a closed-lipped smile. “Lamb, I think. Really spicy. He-” 

 

“I want venison! And chocolate ice cream with strawberries…. and whipped cream.” Desmond interrupted Diyari, even though they both knew he knew exactly what all of them wanted. And that Cain always made a show of reading the menus despite ordering the same thing every time. The proeathan looked confused, and Desmond added, “After the venison, I mean.”

 

“You eat like a breeder,” Cain told his brother. Not surprising, he knew Desmond had been one before this cycle several times. He looked at the proeathan again, they were about as normal and average as could get and Cain wanted to rub his face all over them and wrap him in his wings. It was the weirdest feeling ever.

 

“I want venison too,” he said, the proeathan looked at him. “And coconut bread,” because this place was like the one place he knew that had coconut and Cain was fucking _addicted_. It was terrible for him, but he loved it.

 

“Newsflash, so do you.” Desmond was positive his sweet tooth rubbed off on Cain a bit, and he was totally sure that it transcended any and every incarnation since he’d learned how awesome sugar was. All angels liked fruit for its sugars, even if they weren’t best adapted to digest it, and eating too much was… problematic. “And that is a totally weak insult.” He wasn’t quite as touchy about it as he had been in the past, but he’d still punch a cocky bitch if they implied that breeders were in any way less than a fighter.  
  
Diyari sat back, watching the both of them. The twins definitely were more interesting than his books. He was startled out of his silence when Desmond leaned over the table to tell him that Cain felt his keeper. For a moment, he was shocked, then a little dubious. “Really? Here?” He looked around at the patrons, foremost. “No.”

 

Desmond’s smug grin didn’t falter, and he nodded. “Baby’s first keeper,” he said, pushing a finger into Cain’s cheek. He could see the twitch in his muscles when Desmond went and blabbed about something.

 

Cain growled at his brother and batted him in the back with his wing, thrusting him forward into the table. “Hey, hey, no fighting,” Diyari said quickly, putting his wing across the table between them. “Not out in public.”

 

Cain turned away from the both of them and sulked. The proeathan taking their order had left already and he looked around for them. At least they didn’t know _who_ it was. Then he turned back front, “That’s not bad, right Diyari?” he asked, because Diyari had made it seem scandalous that he’d found them here.

 

“No. Desmond only has experience with nice keepers with a bit more of a cushion.” All of them were. He gave Desmond a look, but he was too busy watching Cain.

 

His head tipped, and he resisted the urge to keep prodding at him. “ _Will you talk to them?”_ Desmond asked, fully aware that Diyari didn’t like being forced out of conversations by language. It wasn’t his fault that they didn’t teach or seem to remember the artifact language. If he was honest, some part of him knew this was older than every artifact in use today. The reason no one knew it aside from the haunting familiarity was because _Cain_ spoke it, and Cain was wrapped up in caution tape and a notice to never speak of this again, but Desmond was on a roll with breaking rules.

 

“ _What_?” all of the feathers on Cain’s wings and body fluffed out for a second and then he stubbornly flattened them. _“No I mean… should I?_ ” Cain was horribly out of practice on everything angel. Like he knew some stuff, but he’d really had to relearn everything. He hadn’t been cycled in so long and he knew that because he’d been told why he was so slow, why everything was so much _harder_ for him, why he was ‘stupider’ than the other angels. _“Am I allowed? They aren’t like your Keeper was, Des_ ,” he said.

 

Desmond nudged Cain gently with his wing. _“There won’t be another, not until they die.”_ He still punched Cain for saying his name, even if it was a little, tiny bit different. Outside, the two of them were literally _He-Who-Shall-Not-Be-Named-Lest-He-Wishes-Arrest_ or some other incredible inconvenience to the rest of their day. They could defend themselves now, but they really didn’t need the Council breathing down their wings.

 

“ _Yeah but-_ ” Cain stopped talking when his would be Keeper came back with drinks and their desserts.

 

“We said-

 

“I know, sorry,” they said when Diyari tried to have them taken away. “The cook said to bring them first. He knows you guys,” and Cain’s entire body felt tightly looking at them. “The rest of your food will be out in a moment,” and then he was gone. Cain’s head followed him as he went and if it wasn’t obvious before it was now

 

“ _Please tell me I won’t be like this_ all _the time,”_ Cain said to Des, looking down at his thick slice of coconut bread.

 

 _“Once you get over yourself, no. I just hope they don’t make us any less fun.”_ Desmond rolled his eyes over to Diyari, and then down at his ice cream because holy shit he was stuffing that in his face, stat. While it was still cold and gave him brain freeze. Goddamn the ice cream here was good, and the chocolate was the best, because it had _chunks_  of _chocolate_ in it. Tasted literally like Godiva herself bestowed upon it chocolate goodness in the same way she bestowed the recipe for badass chocolate to that human who started Godiva Chocolatier, whenever that had happened in human history.

 

Desmond didn’t care, he just cared that the ice cream was fantastic and his sinuses felt numb.

 

Diyari looked an inch from telling the twins to wait on the sweets. Then Desmond nearly dove head first into his ice cream and Diyari sighed. Cain picked at his bread and sipped his drink and kept looking around for his would-be Keeper. He wanted to be close to them, right now. “Diyari,” he said, “who’s your Keeper?” to distract himself. They never asked Diyari, normally it was sort of rude to ask, but he wanted to know.

 

“I don’t live with them, I haven’t really gone to see them, either.” Diyari shrugged.

 

And fuck Diyari if he thought Desmond was going to wait on the _ice cream_. It was fucking ice cream. Shit melts, you know? Desmond had to bite his tongue about the Keeper question. He knew Diyari’s Keeper, only because they were closely involved with Mars and her duties to the state and Council. Her arrest had to disrupt a lot, and destroy a lot of trust, face, and authenticity. He couldn’t help his slight wince, wings rising just a bit.

 

More and more evidence of things he fucked up kept piling up around him, and here he was, enjoying ice cream and food on someone else’s dime like it had nothing to do with him. Sounded like Desmond, with dotted i’s and crossed t’s. If he had any.

 

“Oh,” Cain’s face made a weird motion. It seemed like none of the angels he knew well lived with their Keeper. Desmond didn’t, his parents didn’t, Diyari didn’t. All his friends were his age and thus didn’t really hang out with their Keepers that much and wouldn’t until the academy had released them. He busied himself with his coconut bread.

 

Then their food came and Cain hastily wiped his mouth of the bread crumbs. The proeathan smiled at the three of them and put out their food. Then they left after taking their plates and promising to bring more drinks. _“I feel like I have a crush this is so bizarre_ ,” Cain told his brother. “ _This feeling goes away right? Like once I claim him it goes away?”_

 

Desmond looked up at Cain, regarding him quietly for a few moments. “For you, might not. He has a name, you know.” He didn’t hide his words in what Diyari called ‘Twin talk,’ so he was piqued now. And somewhat invited into the conversation that way. A little. Maybe only half of it.

 

Cain gave Desmond a withering look like ‘don’t talk out loud’ meaning don’t talk normal. For a second his feathers bristled, then laid low again. “Well I know but-” he cut off mid sentence when they came around again.

 

“Here you go,” they said, putting down their drinks. “Everything all right?” he asked, meaning their food.

 

“Fine,” Diyari said and had a shit eating grin on his face to rival his brother and oh he wanted to punch the both of them.

 

“Awesome, let me know if you need anything,” and then he was gone and Cain used more willpower than he thought he’d need to _not_ watch him walk away.

 

“Shut up,” he told the both of them, sulking, though they hadn’t said anything, and tried to eat his venison.

 

“You’re making this a lot harder than it needs to be,” Desmond said, even though he had spiced venison in his mouth. He nudged him again, even though he honestly did find some enjoyment in watching Cain squirm. “You literally just have to say three things.” He lifted three fingers, _“You’re my Keeper.”_ He licked each of his fingers clean.

 

“Well, in a way he understands, no one speaks that,” he added as an afterthought, before he was mostly lost to his food.  
  
Diyari, though he’d been greatly amused, served to be a little more helpful. “That or you just show up at his house. There’s no other reason to willingly seek out someone’s home. Though… maybe a little terrifying.” Angels didn’t have permanently angry looking brows. Cain and Desmond were honestly downright scary, even somewhat disarming if they were unexpected in the ring.

 

Cain had his mouth full so couldn’t talk until he was done and then he said, “I’m way too old for this,” and not his age physically. But his soul was _so_ out of the loop. He had no idea how things were done now, how angels picked their Keepers. He couldn’t even remember if he’d _had_ a Keeper back then. He was backwards compatible for this world now. With a sigh he leaned his head on Desmond’s shoulder, his wings slouching.

 

He perked up some when they walked nearby. Not by their table, but to another one. He lifted his wings tight against his back, frowning. “ _Is it really that easy_?” he asked Desmond, “ _He’s not like other Keepers. What if I freak him out?”_

 

Desmond shrugged. _“Honestly, if you don’t screw him over, you’re probably the best thing to happen to him. … If I didn’t screw_ us _over first.”_ Desmond looked at him. _“But hey, you’d be the first angel to happen to probably anyone he knows._ And he’ll get two.”

 

Cain just sat and ate, digesting what he was gonna do, what he was gonna say. Desmond was right though. Becoming a Keeper was the best thing that could happen to a proeathan. It opened all sorts of social doors and was a huge status boost. If you couldn’t afford to pay for your angel the council would foot all the bills and you’d be offered a ton of new jobs, _just_ on the fact that you had an angel. And Desmond was right, he’d have two. Sure it’d be _them_ but even as two of the most unwanted angels out there meant enough. He bet they worked their ass off too working at this place, got paid better than a human, but how much?

 

He finished his food and the proeathan came around a few more time. Cain brooded the entire time even when Desmond and Diyari talked some. He was thinking. Then it came time to pay. Diyari handed him the credit chip and it was taken to be scanned. When they came back Cain knew he had to do something.

 

As it was he was wound tight as a spring by now. He kept just… smelling them as they passed by, he couldn’t really help it. And he could feel them like a hand on the back of his neck. Cain still had no idea what to say other than what Desmond had told him to say but it sounded so weak.

 

Cain stood up when they came around the final time to give Diyari back his credit chip. They seemed nervous when Cain stood since even though he wasn’t fully grown he was still taller than a full grown proeathan. He and Desmond would be even bigger when they finished growing. Cain looked down at them and extended his wings out and towards them. That freaked them out a lot and Cain drew them in a circle before they could step away. He didn’t want them to be scared.

 

Cain knew what he wanted to say but it came out all wrong. Like he just _felt_ it going totally wrong and out of his control even as he said, “You’re mine,” and that was the _wrong_ thing to say because the proeathan just looked totally bewildered.

 

“What?” they squeaked.

 

Cain spit out the rest before he freaked them out more, “My Keeper,” and he tugged the proeathan into his arms and felt all the tension over lunch melt away. “ _Mine_ ,” he said again though it was more like a strange cooing noise, his wings making an oddly shaped cocoon around them, the proeathan hugging him back a bit, confused but he could tell not in a bad way. “ _Mine mine mine mine_ ,” and because he was still just sort of running pure primal instinct right now, since he had nothing else to dictate how he could act towards his Keeper, and he kissed them, right on the mouth. His Keeper, all of it. No one else’s and if the Council had anything to say about it he’d rip their _fucking throats out._

 

Desmond and Diyari seemed to sigh in unison. “Don’t smother him,” Desmond said, pushing at Cain’s wings. “He’s mine too,” he muttered, shouldering in through his feathers. He bumped his head against Cain’s shoulder, “English, dude,” he reminded him.

 

Cain was close to snapping at Desmond until he realized, it was just Desmond. When he looked down at his Keeper the proeathan looked completely shell shocked. He also noted that the _entire_ restaurant was staring at them. Fuck ‘em.

 

“I’m what?” the proeathan said after a few seconds of stunned silence after Cain had just kissed the hell out of him.

 

“You’re my Keeper,” Cain said and Desmond was trying to worm his way into the circle of his wings. He shifted them and Desmond popped up next to him. “Well, ours,” he said. The proeathan fainted and Cain caught him. “Uh…” he looked at Desmond.

 

Desmond just shrugged. “Nice kiss. But now we have to hang around till he wakes up.” He looked around the restaurant. “And hope you didn’t just cost him his job, because I like this place.” He looked back at Cain with one of the biggest grins on his face.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The italic speech in this chapter represents a variant of the ancient speech from the artifacts that has been spoken before. It originates from really, really old proeathan technology that isn't used currently. It's from the last time Cain was around
> 
>  I'm very sorry to announce. But this story is over and is now permanently discontinued.
> 
> I am no longer talking to the co-writer and it will no longer be updated.
> 
> It will remain up in its state on the internet, but I’m very sorry to have to tell you that it will never be finished.
> 
> [Consider checking this out to help me out](http://shotgunsandstars.tumblr.com/post/95116530924/%22)  
>  
> 
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> 
> you can click it


	4. Chapter 4

I'm very sorry to announce. But this story is over and is now permanently discontinued.

I am no longer talking to the co-writer and it will no longer be updated.

It will remain up in its state on the internet, but I’m very sorry to have to tell you that it will never be finished.

I will remove this chapter in a few days and just leave a note at the end of the previous chapter.


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